Sardinella aurita<\/em>) are among the primary ingredients in fishmeal, a processed fish product added to livestock feed for added protein and nutrients.<\/p>\nBut sardinella is also a crucial food for people in Guinea-Bissau and other West African nations. A fisheries assessment for the Guinea-Bissau government showed sardinella stocks have been decimated, according to the OCCRP report.<\/p>\n
This decline coincided with the arrival two Chinese fishmeal factories and a fleet of Turkish fishing boats off the coast of Guinea-Bissau.<\/p>\n
In an email to Mongabay, OCCRP report co-author Josef Skrdlik said the migration patterns of sardinella still aren\u2019t fully understood, so there could be other explanations for the decline. \u201cThat said, the assessment, combined with the export data we\u2019ve compiled, points to the Chinese-owned factory ships as the main culprits,\u201d Skrdlik said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe export data indicates that the production on the ships \u2014 supplied by a Turkish fleet for which sardinella was a key target \u2014 took place at a scale consistent with the decline in the sardinella stocks observed between 2013 and 2025,\u201d he added. \u201cIn particular, fishmeal exports by a company linked to the floating factories corresponded to at least 350,000 tons of raw fish turned into fishmeal, according to our calculations. For comparison, in 2013, the combined aurita and maderensis stocks were estimated at 270,109 tons.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the assessment of the sardinella decline, the Guinea-Bissau government banned fishmeal production. Amad\u00fa Djal\u00f3, director of industrial fishing at the Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, told OCCRP the fishmeal sector was to blame for the sardinella decline. He said the ban was put in place to protect \u201cfish intended for human consumption, especially for the disadvantaged population.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the OCCRP report, local fisherman Tejan Joof said he used to spend a day or two at sea and return with a full catch. \u201cNow we need to spend four or five days at sea,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes, even with all these days, you don\u2019t even catch what you want before our supplies run out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFishmeal production on vessels represents a new type of threat, as production at sea is much harder to oversee and regulate and, until recently, was very poorly mapped and understood,\u201d Skrdlik said. \u201cI hope that our report sheds some light on how damaging these activities can be and on the corporate structures underpinning the production, thus providing information that could help inform potential regulatory responses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banner image:<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0A sardinella catch. Image courtesy of Anne Delaporte via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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